HAM Celebrates Its First “First Friday” with Poetry and Museum Tours

CLINTON, N.J. - March 21, 2013 - PRLog -- Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Hunterdon Art Museum as it hosts its first “First Friday” event on April 5 with Geraldine R. Dodge poets J.C. Todd and Mark Hillringhouse.

“First Fridays” begin at the Museum at 6 p.m. and are free and open to all. The event will also feature an open microphone for anyone interested in sharing their poetry, Museum tours and refreshments. For more information call the Museum at (908) 735-8415.

Future “First Fridays” poetry readings will include: Lois Marie Harrod and B.J. Ward (May 3); Grant Clauser and Warren Cooper (June 7); Scott McVay (July 5); an evening of poetry on visual art with Anne Kaier, MM Whittle and John Smith (Aug. 2); Diane Sahms-Guarnieri and G. Emil Reutter (Sept. 6); and Liz Abrams-Morley and Jim Mancinelli (Oct. 4).

About the Poets

J.C. Todd’s most recent volume of poems is “What Space This Body,” and her work has appeared in numerous journals including The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, and the American Poetry Review. She has been honored with a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowship for poetry, two Leeway Foundation awards, and fellowships to international artist colonies in Germany and Sweden. She is a workshop leader for New Jersey’s Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Program and teaches at Bryn Mawr and Rosemont College.

Mark Hillringhouse is a published poet, essayist, and photographer whose works have been widely shown in area galleries. His photography and writing have been published in The American Poetry Review, The Literary Review, The New York Times, The New Jersey Monthly, The Paris Review, and in many other journals, books, anthologies and magazines. He was the founding editor of The American Book Review, and a contributing editor for The New York Arts Journal.  Thrice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and a three-time recipient of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship, he recently won the 2011 Allen Ginsberg Award for poetry and the National Parks 2012 Calendar photography contest. His recent book of poems and photographs, “Between Frames” was published last year.  He has an MFA in creative writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and he is a member of the English Department at Passaic County Community College.  

GENERAL INFORMATION FOR THE PUBLIC

The Museum is at 7 Lower Center St. in Clinton, New Jersey, 08809. Our website is www.hunterdonartmuseum.org and our telephone number is 908-735-8415. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 11 am – 5 pm and suggested admission is $5.

ABOUT THE HUNTERDON ART MUSEUM

The Hunterdon Art Museum presents changing exhibitions of contemporary art, craft and design in a 19th century stone mill that is on the National Register of Historic Places.  Founded in 1952, the Museum is a landmark regional art center showcasing works by established and emerging contemporary artists. It also offers a dynamic schedule of art classes and workshops for children and adults.

Programs are made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and by funds from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Hunterdon County Cultural & Heritage Commission, New Jersey Cultural Trust, The Horizon Foundation of New Jersey and corporations, foundations, and individuals.  The Hunterdon Art Museum is a wheelchair accessible space.  Publications are available in large print.  Patrons who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired may contact the Museum through the New Jersey Relay Service at (TYY) 1 (800) 852-7899.